Blogs > February 16, 2009

Feb 18, 2009

February 16, 2009



HISTORY BUZZ:

THIS
WEEK:

THIS WEEK ON THE BUZZ....

US
POL.:

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS:

BIG.
NEWS:

BIGGEST NEWS STORIES:

  • C-SPAN: Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership - CSPAN, 2-16-09
  • Lincoln wins: Honest Abe tops new presidential survey: It's been 145 years since Abraham Lincoln appeared on a ballot, but admiration for the man who saved the union and sparked the end of slavery is as strong as ever, according to a new survey. Lincoln finished first in a ranking by historians of the 42 former White House occupants. The survey was released over Presidents Day weekend. - CNN, 2-16-09
  • Richard Norton Smith:"Presidential rankings: Leadership": "Bill Clinton and Ulysses S. Grant aren't often mentioned in the same sentence - until now," Smith notes - with both boosted"significantly higher than in the original survey conducted in 2000. All of which goes to show two things: the fluidity with which presidential reputations are judged, and the difficulty of assessing any president who has only just recently left office." Swamp Politics, 2-17-09
  • Douglas Brinkley"Presidential rankings: Leadership": "As much as is possible, we created a poll that was non-partisan, judicious and fair minded, and it's fitting that for the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln that he remains at the top of these presidential rankings," Brinkley says."How we rank our presidents is, to a large extent, influenced by our own times. Today's concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of foreign policy, managing the economy, or human rights." - Swamp Politics, 2-17-09
  • Edna Greene Medford"Presidential rankings: Leadership": "The survey results also reinforce the idea that history is less about agreed-upon facts than about perceptions of who we are as a nation and how our leaders have either enhanced or tarnished that image we have of ourselves," Medford adds."Lincoln continues to rank at the top in all categories because he is perceived to embody the nation's avowed core values: integrity, moderation, persistence in the pursuit of honorable goals, respect for human rights, compassion; those who collect near the bottom are perceived as having failed to uphold those values." - Swamp Politics, 2-17-09
  • Quiz: How well do you know your presidents?: Professor Paul Harris has taught history at Minnesota State University Moorhead for 23 years, and during that time he's come to know that U.S. presidents aren't always students' specialty. - In-Forum, ND, 2-15-09
  • Ronald C. White Jr.: Why Lincoln still matters: CNN talked with White about Lincoln's impact on the country, President Obama's affinity for him and what lessons Lincoln has to offer Americans of today. - CNN, 2-12-09
  • James McPherson: 5 Questions About Lincoln: On the occasion of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, he kindly consented to the following interview, with questions posed by Britannica senior editor Jeff Wallenfeldt.... Britannica Blog, 2-11-09
  • Eric Foner interviewed by Bill Moyers: More books are coming during this bicentennial year. Here's my most recent favorite,"Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World." It's a collection of original essays by prize-winning historians, including the book's editor, Eric Foner.... - Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, 2-6-09
THIS
WEEK
IN
HIST.:

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

    On This Day in History....

  • 16/02/1741 - Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine (2nd US Mag) begins publishing
  • 16/02/1760 - Native American hostages killed in Ft Prince George SC
  • 16/02/1864 - Battle of Mobile, AL - operations by Union Army
  • 16/02/1914 - 1st airplane flight (LA to SF)
  • 16/02/1917 - 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid
  • 16/02/1959 - Fidel Castro named himself Cuba's premier after overthrowing Batista
  • 17/02/1621 - Miles Standish appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony
  • 17/02/1801 - House breaks electoral college tie, chooses Jefferson pres over Burr
  • 17/02/1865 - -18] Battle of Charleston SC
  • 17/02/1865 - Columbia SC burns down during Civil War
  • 17/02/1870 - Mississippi becomes 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War
  • 17/02/1915 - Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
  • 17/02/1933 - US Senate accept Blaine Act: ending prohibition
  • 17/02/1933 - 1st issue of"Newsweek" magazine published
  • 17/02/1938 - 1st public experimental demonstration of Baird color TV (London)
  • 17/02/1943 - Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews
  • 17/02/1949 - Chaim Weitzman elected 1st president of Israel
  • 17/02/1964 - US House of Reps accept Law on the civil rights
  • 17/02/1969 - Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister
  • 17/02/1972 - President Nixon leaves Washington DC for China
  • 18/02/1503 - Henry Tudor created Prince of Wales (later Henry VIII)
  • 18/02/1688 - Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa
  • 18/02/1861 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery Ala
  • 18/02/1865 - Union troops force Confederates to abandon Ft Anderson, NC
  • 18/02/1865 - Evacuation of Charleston, SC; Sherman's troops burn city
  • 18/02/1927 - US and Canada begin diplomatic relations
  • 18/02/1970 - US president Nixon launches"Nixon-doctrine"
  • 19/02/1807 - VP Aaron Burr arrested in Alabama for treason; later found innocent
  • 19/02/1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patents gramophone (phonograph)
  • 19/02/1881 - Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages
  • 19/02/1919 - Pan-African Congress, organized by W E B Du Bois (Paris)
  • 19/02/1941 - Nazi raid Amsterdam and round up 429 young Jews for deportation
  • 19/02/1942 - FDR orders detention and internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans
  • 19/02/1945 - US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese
  • 19/02/1963 - USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba
  • 19/02/1986 - US Senate ratifies UN's anti-genocide convention 37 years later
  • 20/02/1547 - King Edward VI of England was enthroned following death of Henry VIII
  • 20/02/1809 - Supreme Court rules federal govt power greater than any state
  • 20/02/1839 - Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia
  • 20/02/1861 - Dept of Navy of Confederacy forms
  • 20/02/1869 - Tenn Gov W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis
  • 20/02/1933 - House of Reps completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition
  • 20/02/1941 - 1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland
  • 20/02/1962 - John Glenn is 1st American to orbit Earth (Friendship 7)
  • 21/02/1764 - John Wilkes thrown out of Engl House of Commons for"Essay on Women"
  • 21/02/1792 - Congress passes Pres Succession Act
  • 21/02/1804 - 1st locomotive, Richard Trevithick's, runs for 1st time, in Wales
  • 21/02/1857 - Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in US
  • 21/02/1862 - Confederate Constitution and presidency are declared permanent
  • 21/02/1862 - Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Val Verde, NM
  • 21/02/1874 - Benjamin Disraeli replaces William Gladstone as English premier
  • 21/02/1885 - Washington Monument dedicated (Wash DC)
  • 21/02/1895 - NC Legislature, adjourns for day to mark death of Frederick Douglass
  • 21/02/1916 - Battle of Verdun in WW I begins (1 million casualties)
  • 21/02/1943 - Dutch RC bishops protest against persecution of Jews
  • 21/02/1965 – Black nationalist leader Malcolm X is assassinated.
  • 21/02/1972 - Richard Nixon becomes 1st US president to visit China
  • 22/02/1630 - Indians introduce pilgrims to popcorn, at Thanksgiving
  • 22/02/1819 - Spain renounces claims to Oregon Country, Florida (Adams-Onis Treaty)
  • 22/02/1821 - Spain sells (east) Florida to United States for $5 million
  • 22/02/1854 - 1st meeting of Republican Party (Michigan)
  • 22/02/1856 - 1st national meeting of Republican Party (Pittsburgh)
  • 22/02/1861 - On a bet Edward Weston leaves Boston to walk to Lincoln's inauguration
  • 22/02/1864 - -27] Battle at Dalton Georgia
  • 22/02/1889 - Pres Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana and Washington state
  • 22/02/1900 - Hawaii became a US territory
  • 22/02/1924 - 1st presidential radio address (Calvin Coolidge)
  • 22/02/1967 - 25,000 US and S Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, offensive to smash Viet Cong stronghold near Cambodian border
IN
THE
NEWS:

IN THE NEWS:

  • Groundbreaking civil rights book republished: Amid the terror and oppression, civil rights pioneer W.E.B. DuBois published a groundbreaking book in 1924 that challenged the pervasive stereotypes of African Americans and documented their rarely recognized achievements. His book,"The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America," detailed the role of African Americans with the earliest explorers to inventions ranging from ice cream to player pianos.... - AP, 2-17-09
  • African-American studies expanding But some say wider focus, however, obscures original social justice aim : Programs have come and gone since then. Charles E. Jones, president of the National Council for Black Studies, says there are about 325 programs at universities across the United States, down from a high of 450 in the 1970s. - Houston Chronicle, 2-16-09
  • John Taylor Leaving as Nixon Foundation Executive Director: John H. Taylor, President Nixon's former chief of staff and executive director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation since 1990, is leaving his Foundation position on Feb. 15 to accept the call of the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles, J. Jon Bruno, to serve full time as vicar, or priest in charge, of St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church and School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.... - www.nixonlibraryfoundation.org, 2-10-09
  • New Report: Fixing problems in the State Department Office of the Historian won't be easy: A management crisis in the State Department Office of the Historian threatens the future of the official"Foreign Relations of the United States" (FRUS) series that documents the history of U.S. foreign policy, according to a newly disclosed report on the situation.... - Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists, 2-12-09
OP-
EDs:

OP-EDs:

  • Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore explain the relationship between history and fiction in their latest project, Blindspot: What happens when historians write fiction? We decided to find out. Blindspot, our novel, is set in 1764, in Boston, a city reeling from the economic downturn following the French and Indian War, and beginning to simmer with the fires of liberty. The book tells the story of Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter fleeing debtor's prison, and Fanny Easton, the fallen daughter of one of Boston's richest merchants, who poses as a boy to gain a situation as Jameson's apprentice. Their lives take a turn when Samuel Bradstreet, Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, is murdered the day Jameson and Easton are to paint him. - OAH Newsletter, 2-1-09
  • Allan J. Lichtman takes the presidential debates to Russia: Like E. H. Carr, I believe that history is as much about the future as about the past. This belief has guided my rather unorthodox forty-year career as a historian and led me to become an unofficial stand-in for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in mock presidential debates this past September in Russia. - OAH Newsletter, 2-1-09
REV-
IEWS:

REVIEWS:

  • Shelby Steele on Robert J. Norrell: Pride and Compromise: UP FROM HISTORY The Life of Booker T. Washington ...Robert J. Norrell, in his remarkable new biography,"Up From History," gets around this problem the old-fashioned way: by scrupulously excavating the facts of his subject's life and then carefully situating him in his own era. - NYT, 2-15-09
  • Mary Frances Berry: 50 Years of Struggle: AND JUSTICE FOR ALL The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America Mary Frances Berry faces some substantial obstacles in trying to animate the comparatively more diffuse leadership and more amorphous saga of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, her subject in"And Justice for All." - NYT, 2-15-09
  • Eric J. Sundquist, Christine King Farris: A Dream Obscured Understanding Martin Luther King Jr. and his most famous speech: KING'S DREAM, THROUGH IT ALL Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith ...Each chapter of Sundquist's intelligent and important book focuses on one of several themes in the speech, unpacking the sources of the words and placing them within a broader civil rights context.... - WaPo, 2-15-09
  • Matthew Dallek on Adam Cohen, Burt Solomon: Starting Out Strong How Roosevelt's first 100 days still set the agenda today: NOTHING TO FEAR FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America, FDR v. THE CONSTITUTION The Court-Packing Fight and the Triumph of Democracy Adam Cohen, an assistant editorial page editor of the New York Times, now weighs in with Nothing to Fear. It's a valuable addition, a deeply sympathetic and thoroughly convincing portrait of FDR and five of his senior advisers that unearths how the aides' interactions with Roosevelt helped to spawn the New Deal.... Still, FDR's court-packing plan didn't mortally threaten American democracy, as journalist Burt Solomon claims in FDR v. The Constitution.... - WaPo, 2-15-09
  • Liaquat Ahamed: Who Caused the Great Depression? Lessons from an era in which four men held sway over global finance: LORDS OF FINANCE The Bankers Who Broke the World It was a ruinous decision. as Liaquat Ahamed notes in Lords of Finance, all the gold mined in history up to 1914"was barely enough to fill a modest two-story town house." There simply was not enough of it to fund a global conflict or to allow economic recovery afterward.... - WaPo, 2-15-09
  • David Kushner: What happened when a black family tried to live the suburban American dream: LEVITTOWN Two Families, One Tycoon, and the Fight for Civil Rights in America's Legendary Suburb So the Levitts bought up 3,500 acres of potato farmland at Island Trees on Long Island and, according to David Kushner,"hatched their ambitious plan: to mass-produce the American dream for the common people, the veterans coming home from the war."... - WaPo, 2-15-09
  • Michael Burlingame: Bio of Lincoln drawing rave reviews: Burlingame will himself be judged for his new, nearly 2,000-page, cradle-to-grave biography. So far the reviews are glowing: The historian, say his peers, has written the most comprehensive of all accounts of the complex, idiosyncratic president by sifting through untold reams of material, some out-of-the-way and rarely, if ever, considered... - Chronicle of Higher Ed, 2-13-09
BLOGS:

BLOGS:

  • Gary Fouse: CampusWatch Complaint"UC Irvine's Anti-Israel, Anti-American Hate-Fest: On January 31, 2009, a conference took place at UC Irvine (UCI) titled,"Whither the Levant? The Crisis of the Nation State: Lebanon, Israel, Palestine." Organized by the Levantine Cultural Center of Los Angeles and the Middle East Studies Student Initiative, the conference featured two documentaries about the 2006 war in southern Lebanon, three panel discussions, and a number of Middle East studies academics. In spite of the neutral sounding title, the conference was a one-sided exercise in bashing Israel and America. - Frontpagemag.com, 2-16-09
  • Open letter from a group of Iraqi archaeologists concerned about premature opening of Iraq Museum: We are now facing another type of destruction, the destruction that can result from lack of knowledge. We have learned of the plans to open the Iraq Museum within two weeks. While we are not in principle opposed to the opening of the museums of Iraq, and feel that the cultural heritage of a nation ought to be open to the public, such an act must proceed according to international standards of museology and conservation.... - Letter dated Feb. 11-2009 (distributed through IraqiCrisis email), 2-11-09
QUO-
TES:

QUOTES:

  • Mark Miller"Chiefs: Presidents' Day commemorates leaders' lives": Mark Miller, assistant professor of history, said Lincoln and Washington in particular are celebrated because they are ranked in the top three in any polls of historians."George Washington ranks for actions taken both before he was president and after he became our first chief executive," he said."Lincoln's major importance lies in his leading the union during the Civil War, and by its ultimate victory, held the nation together." Miller said both men were of great character."They had to make hard and unpopular decisions, but their decisions have been proven over time to be the right ones," he said. - SUU Journal Online, UT. 2-17-09
  • Earl Mulderink"Chiefs: Presidents' Day commemorates leaders' lives": Professor of History Earl Mulderink said both men served at critical times in the nation's history."Washington and Lincoln left us with stirring words, and both seemed to have great personal integrity that places them above many of the lesser individuals who have served as President," he said. - SUU Journal Online, UT. 2-17-09
  • Tycho de Boer"Make room for Millard: Celebrating 'unknown' presidents" George Washington and Abraham Lincoln might get all the attention, but this Presidents Day, take a moment to remember the forgotten ones, said Saint Mary’s University assistant history professor Tycho de Boer."I think we should know about all of them," de Boer said.... Our recent presidents are more likely to be remembered thanks to 24-hour news."Because of the media coverage, we're just going to remember them more," de Boer said," combined with the fact they have more power than ever." - La Crosse Tribune, WI, 2-15-09
  • "Make room for Millard: Celebrating 'unknown' presidents": It's hard to imagine rising to the highest rank in our country and being forgotten, but that's become the fate for many a former president, sometimes because of the circumstances that got them into office, said Winona State University history professor John Campbell. Some weren't elected, but inherited the job after the president died or was killed in office."If they would've just remained as vice presidents, we really wouldn't have heard of them," Campbell said. Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885) was said to have"looked like a president," rising to the rank after James Garfield (1881) was assassinated."Both of those guys were pretty second rate political figures," Campbell said."Arthur was in the right place at the right time."...."I think one of the reasons whey we hear about a handful of presidents is that they tended to be presidents during wartime," Campbell said."Washington, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, all are associated with warfare and successful wars." - La Crosse Tribune, WI, 2-15-09
  • Richard Burkhardt"At Darwin's 200th, what made him controversial has evolved": Burkhardt has a special soft spot for Alfred Russel Wallace, who independently came up with a theory of natural selection about the same time as Darwin did, and in fact sent the theory in a letter to Darwin, not knowing that the elder scientist had come up with a similar theory and was taking his good time to publish it."A lesser man than Wallace might have found it funny" that Darwin only published after reading his work, Burkhardt says. A working-class scientist, unlike Darwin, an aristocrat who married into the Wedgwood china fortune, Wallace was generous in the credit he gave to his elder."Wallace even titled one of his own books 'Darwinism,'" Burkhardt marvels. - Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette, IL, 2-15-09
PRO-
FILES:

PROFILES:

  • Charles W. Sanders Jr.: Professor uses army experience to interest students in classroom: Sanders, associate professor of history, incorporates his army experience in his teaching style and world outlook. He tells history as a series of stories about what he calls the"human dimension of things."... - Kansas State Collegian, KS, 2-16-09
  • Lonnie Bunch: Curator is overseeing his most important collection ever—the history and culture of a people: ...The official was Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian's planned National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), in Washington, D.C. n Bunch and his staff realized how having an African-American in the White House for the first time could energize the envisioned museum's startup efforts.... - Chicago Tribune, 2-8-09
  • Robert Caro spent decades living LBJ's life. His goal with the last volume is the same as it was with the first: to endure: What made Johnson run? That was the question that, for several months in the late 1970s, drove Robert Caro mad. Never mind that Caro was better equipped to answer it than perhaps any other man, living or dead. For years, he had been at work on a nonfiction chronicle of Lyndon Johnson's early life.... - Newsweek, 2-7-09
INTER-
VIEWS:

INTERVIEWS:

  • Richard Norton Smith ... A Historian's Take on Obama (interview): Last year's gripping campaign and the wave of popularity behind Barack Obama have focused tremendous attention on the White House and the presidency. As the country marks Presidents Day, TIME spoke with author and historian Richard Norton Smith about America's"schizoid" relationship with its President, the lofty expectations for Obama and the way history's verdicts can shift over time. - Time Magazine, 2-16-09
  • Phillip Payne"History Professor Uses Harding Legacy to Assess Bush": A presidential scholar who has studied Warren G. Harding's legacy is weighing in on how former president George W. Bush is likely to be remembered. There's been much debate in recent weeks about how history will treat George W. Bush. He left office with one of the worst approval ratings of any president. But historians say it will be years before the determination of where Bush stands among the nation's worst presidents. - WBFO, NY, 2-3-09
  • Historian for Hire: A conversation with Phil Cantelon: Scholar entrepreneur Phil Cantelon has discovered that it is possible to make research and writing pay. In 1980, he and three collegues hung a shingle for their services as historians, building a business whose clients would eventually range from the United States government to a Las Vegas museum devoted to organized crime. - Bruce Cole in Humanities, magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), 1-1-09
FEAT-
URES:

FEATURES:

  • Exhibition Review: A Lifetime's Collection of Texts in Hebrew, at Sotheby's: Is bibliophilia a religious impulse? You can’t walk into Sotheby's exhibition space in Manhattan right now and not sense the devotion or be swept up in its passions and particularities. The 2,400-square-foot opening gallery is lined with shelves — 10 high — reaching to the ceiling, not packed tight, but with occasional books open to view. Each shelf is labeled, not with a subject, but with a city or town of origin: Amsterdam, Paris, Leiden, Izmir, Bombay, Cochin, Cremona, Jerusalem, Ferrara, Calcutta, Mantua, Shanghai, Alexandria, Baghdad and on and on.... - NYT, 2-16-09 - Slide Show
HON-
ORS:

HONORS, AWARDED &APPOINTED:

  • James McPherson, Craig L. Symonds share $50,000 Lincoln Prize: James McPherson, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War history,"The Battle Cry of Freedom," was cited for"Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief." The other winner was Craig L. Symonds for"Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War." - Canadian Press, 2-11-09
  • Carole McAlpine Watson: Historian named temporary head of NEH: The Obama administration today named Carole McAlpine Watson as acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has filled that role since last month’s departure of Bruce Cole, who had led the endowment since 2001.... - Chronicle of Higher Ed, 2-10-09
SPOT-
TED:

SPOTTED:

  • Panelists examine history of black leadership: Four scholars and leaders discussed the evolution of black leadership from the early days of slavery to the election of Barack Obama at a forum entitled"Before there was Barack" at the Marvin Center Monday night..."It's not the Jesse Jacksons and Barack Obamas, but the people who supported them [who made changes]," James Jones added."Supporters are the real leaders." - Daily Eastern News, IL, 2-17-09
  • Dave Roediger"History professor thinks racism is on its way out": Roediger, history professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, talked about his book"How Race Survived U.S. History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon." - Den News, 2-4-09
  • Norman Naimark: History a 'creative process,' at the Award-Winning Teachers on Teaching series sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning, Stanford University: "History teaches about everyday men and women making decisions, society moving in one direction or another, good people and bad people," he said. History allows us to"recreate this moral universe." - Cynthia Haven at the website of the Stanford News Service, 1-30-09
EVENT
CAL.:

EVENTS CALENDAR:

  • February 18 & 19, 2009: Historians to hold court at IWU, ISU Founder's Days - Wednesday, Abraham Lincoln scholar and Pulitzer-Prize nominee James Horton headlines the Illinois Wesleyan University convocation, marking the campus’ 159th birthday. On Thursday, ISU celebrates its 152nd birthday. ISU is the oldest public university in the state. - Bloomington Pantagraph, 2-17-09
  • February 23, 2009: The University of Southern Indiana College of Liberal Arts symposium"Abraham Lincoln's Life and Legacy" has been rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 23. The symposium was originally scheduled for yesterday but the USI campus was closed due to the winter storm. - Henderson Gleaner, KY, 1-29-09
  • February 24, 2009: Michael Burlingame, Abe Lincoln scholar coming to town: Northwestern Oklahoma State University will participate in celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s 16th president, during an event on Tuesday, Feb. 24, from 7 to 9 p.m. in Herod Hall Auditorium. -
  • February 19 - May 30, 2009: UNL professor curates 'dreamy' exhibition at Folger Shakespeare Library: Carole Levin, Willa Cather professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has curated a new exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C."To Sleep, Perchance to Dream" will run Feb. 19 through May 30. - Media Newswire (press release), NY, 2-17-09
  • March 2, 2009: Women's History Month Lecture Explores Rape and the Civil War: Dr. Crystal N. Feimster, an assistant professor of history at UNC Chapel Hill, will discuss rape in the Civil War South for a lecture marking Women’s History Month at 4 p.m. Monday, March 2. The event, free and open to the public, will be held in Moore HRA, Room 2211. - UNCG University News, NC, 2-17-09
  • April 3-4, 2009: The Obama Phenomenon: Race and Political Discourse in the United States Today, University of Memphis
ON TV:

ON TV:

  • History Channel:"How the Earth Was Made: The Deepest Place on Earth," Tuesday, February 17, @ 9pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"More American Eats," Wednesday, February 18, @ 2pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Cities Of The Underworld: 09 - Freemason Underground ," Wednesday, February 18, @ 8pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Decoding The Past: Cults: Dangerous Devotion," Thursday, February 19, @ 2pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Investigating History: Lincoln: Man or Myth?," Thursday, February 12, @ 5pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Cities Of The Underworld: 09 - Freemason Underground ," Thursday, February 19, @ 6pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Dogfights: The Greatest Air Battles," Friday, February 20, @ 2pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Dogfights: Tuskegee Airmen," Friday, February 20, @ 4pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"First to Fight: The Black Tankers of WWII: First to Fight: The Black Tankers of WWII," Friday, February 20, @ 5pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Shootout: Iwo Jima: Fight to the Death," Friday, February 20, @ 6pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Stealing Lincoln's Body," Friday, February 20, @ 8pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"The Lincoln Assassination," Friday, February 20, @ 10pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"MonsterQuest," Marathon, Saturday, February 21, @ 2-5pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Stealing Lincoln's Body," Saturday, February 21, @ 5pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"The Outlaw Josey Wales," Saturday, February 21, @ 8pm ET/PT
  • C-SPAN2:BOOK TV: History Saturday at 1:00 PM, and Sunday at 5:00 AM Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers Author: Richard Newman -
  • C-SPAN2:BOOK TV: Saturday at 3:00 PM, and Sunday at 1:00 AM 1960 LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies Author: David Pietrusza -
  • C-SPAN2:BOOK TV: Sunday at 3:45 AM The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation Author: Nancy Rubin Stuart -
  • C-SPAN2:BOOK TV: History Sunday at 11:15 AM, Sunday at 8:30 PM, and Monday at 2:30 AM Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan Author: Kim Phillips-Fein -
  • History Channel:"Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History," Monday, February 23, @ 2pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Crime Wave: 18 Months of Mayhem," Monday, February 23, @ 8pm ET/PT
  • History Channel:"Godfathers," Monday, February 23, @ 10pm ET/PT
BEST
SEL-
LERS:

BEST SELLERS (NYT):

  • Jon Meacham: AMERICAN LION #9 -- (13 weeks on list) - 2-22-09
  • Barack Obama: THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS 2009 Obama’s Inaugural Address as well as two by Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address and an Emerson essay. #15 -- (1 week on list) - 2-22-09
  • Niall Ferguson: THE ASCENT OF MONEY #18 - 2-22-09
  • Ronald C. White Jr: A. LINCOLN #20 - 2-22-09
  • Gwen Ifill: THE BREAKTHROUGH #25 - 2-22-09
  • THE AMERICAN JOURNEY OF BARACK OBAMA, by the editors of Life magazine. #28 - 2-22-09
  • Annette Gordon-Reed: THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO - #34 - 2-22-09
NEW
BOOKS:

COMING SOON BOOKS:

  • The New York Times, Obama: The Historic Journey, February 16, 2009
  • Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, February 24, 2009
  • Paul D. Escott, What Shall We Do with the Negro?: Lincoln, White Racism, and Civil War America, March 1, 2009
  • David Donald, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War, March 1, 2009
  • Joel C. Rosenberg, Inside the Revolution: How the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson and Jesus Are Battling to Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World, March 10, 2009
  • Neal Bascomb, Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased down the World's Most Notorious Nazi, March 11, 2009
  • Jeff Guinn, Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, March 10, 2009
  • Karen Greenberg, The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days, March 13, 2009
  • William Greider, Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (And Redeeming Promise) of Our Country, March 17, 2009
  • John Guy, Daughter's Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg, March 17, 2009
  • John Gill: 1809 Thunder on the Danube: Napoleon's Defeat of the Habsburgs, Vol. II: The Fall of Vienna and the Battle of Aspern, March 19, 2009
  • Alan Huffman, Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History, March 24. 2009
  • Amir Taheri, The Persian Night: Iran from Khomeini to Ahmadinejad, March 25, 2009
  • Simon Schama, American Future: A History, May 19, 2009
OBITS:

DEPARTED:

  • Alfred A. Knopf Jr., Influential Publisher, Dies at 90: Alfred A. Knopf Jr., who left the noted publishing house run by his parents to become one of the founders of Atheneum Publishers in 1959, died on Saturday. He was 90, the last of the surviving founders, and lived in New York City. - NYT, 2-16-09


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